7 years ago....it seems like just yesterday but than I look at my 8 year old and remember that he was just a baby and I was waking up to his cries that morning. It was back in the day when we had just one car and that day my baby had a well check so I was planning on dropping off my husband at work. We were (and are still) living in Las Vegas, but I claim DC as my home and it is where my parents still live. In fact my dad has worked in the pentagon for years ever since we moved to DC when I was a kid. So we were waking up to hearing the "news" planes hitting the first tower, watching the first tower fall seeing the 2nd plane hit than hearing that the White House was being evacuated and that the pentagon had been hit.
That is when my heart really dropped.....it was hurting before and I was stunned but when they said the pentagon I could feel my heart drop into my stomach. I remember looking at my husband and him saying "he's not there don't worry...he's not there" meaning my Dad. I knew that my Dad wasn't traveling that day, and I knew he was there. I just kept staring at the tv. But my husband HAD to go to work. I had to take him across town. We had a cell phone and on the 45 minute drive we turned on talk radio and listened to the 2nd tower fall we got to his work and they were all watching the tv there. The whole ride I called my parents house and their cell phone but all circuits were busy and the one time I got threw no one was home.
I left my husband at work and had to get gas, while I was filling up the phone rang...it was my Dad....he had heard the plane hit he had run out to help and he saw the aftermath, but the MPs at the pentagon were sending everyone home and trying to get control of the "crime scene" By the time I talked to him he was home....safe.
I think of that day every time I fly. I think of it when I go home to DC and we drive past the pentagon. I think of it when I hear "special reports" come across the tv screen. I don't think I'm waiting for it to happen again, but I am trying to be emotionally ready if it were to happen again.
The world is different. My boys know no other way of flying....no water, no juice, no liquids through security. they are experts at removing shoes, belts etc at the security gates and don't find it weird that our family can't walk us straight up to the gate anymore. They have seen pictures of the memorial lights in NYC and they know what happened there. It is very sad and hurts my heart that they can recount the parts of the "story" we have told them.
I pray for all those who lost their lives that day. I pray for their families and their friends who miss them daily. I pray for those serving our country now. I pray for their families that are missing them and are waiting for their loved one s to return from serving our country.
And I hope that none of us ever forget.
1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/2848611914/, 2. explosion in the sky, 3. SEPT_11_0D7XW.jpg, 4. Blue light tribute, 5. In Memoriam, 6. WTC tribute in lights over Brooklyn Bridge
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